Known masking assemblies of the type each including at least one sheet of paint masking material adapted to be removed from the assembly and applied to a portion of a surface to be masked while an adjacent portion of the surface is painted include sheets of paint masking material having peripheries of predetermined shapes and layers of pressure sensitive adhesive permanently adhered on one of their surfaces releasably adhered to a sheet of liner material which is at least coextensive with and may be larger than the sheets of paint masking material. When such sheets of paint masking material are removed and adhered to a surface, their entire surfaces are adhered to that surface by the layers of pressure sensitive adhesive which can cause them to be more difficult to remove than may be desired. Such known masking assemblies have also included continuous sheets of paint masking material having peripheries off predetermined shapes and layers of pressure sensitive adhesive permanently adhered on one of their surfaces releasably adhered to sheets of liner material which are the same shape as and coextensive with the sheets of paint masking material, which sheets of liner material are slit between their surfaces in a pattern that allows a part of the liner material to be peeled away leaving only predetermined portions of the layers of pressure sensitive adhesive on the sheets of paint masking material exposed to limit the amount of adhesion of those layers of pressure sensitive adhesive with surfaces to which the sheets of paint masking material are to be adhered. While such paint masking assemblies can restrict the amount of adhesion between the sheets of paint masking material and surfaces to which they are adhered, it is difficult for the applier to strip away the part of the liner material over the portion of the layer of pressure sensitive adhesive by which the sheets of paint masking material are to adhered to a surface. Master sheets bearing several sheets of paint masking material to be used on an object to be painted (e.g., a car body) have been made by first forming several of at least one type of the masking assemblies described above, removing at least a part of the liner material from that masking assembly, and adhering the pressure sensitive adhesive exposed on the sheets of paint masking material by that removal to the master sheet from which the sheets of paint masking material can be removed and adhered to surfaces to be masked. Such master sheets are generally hand assembled, and are thus very expensive to make.
Also, die cut tape pads can be formed from sheets of paint masking material which are either only coated on certain portions with pressure sensitive adhesive, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,520; or which are coated with pressure sensitive adhesive on one entire surface, and then have portions of those layers of pressure sensitive adhesive overcoated (as by printing techniques) with a detackifier as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,919.